Change in the Executive Board of the Wilo Group

Mathias Weyers, Member of the Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), has left the company on his own request / Dr Patrick Niehr takes over

Dortmund. Mathias Weyers (53) has resigned from his position as Member of the Executive Board and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Wilo Group with effect from 30 June 2024. Weyers, who can look back on a long and successful career at Wilo, is leaving the company at his own request to pursue new professional challenges. He will be succeeded by Dr Patrick Niehr (50), who previously served on the Executive Board as Chief Change Officer (CCO).

"Mathias Weyers has made a significant contribution to the profitable and sustainable development of the Wilo Group as CFO and a member of the Executive Board. During his tenure, Wilo achieved numerous record results. Mathias Weyers also navigated calmly, decisively and reliably through crises such as the coronavirus pandemic", explains CEO Oliver Hermes, who is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Wilo-Foundation. The Wilo-Foundation is the majority shareholder of WILO SE. "We would like to sincerely thank Mathias Weyers for his work and wish him all the best for the future."

Lars Roßner, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Wilo Group, emphasises: "Wilo is a resilient and crisis-proof company, also because Mathias Weyers, together with Oliver Hermes as CEO, has made pioneering strategic decisions from which the entire Group benefits today and especially in the future.” Most recently, Weyers developed a comprehensive sustainable financing strategy that is derived from Wilo's overarching sustainability strategy "Creating, Caring, Connecting".

Following the placement of a traditional promissory note (224 million euros) and a US private placement (95 million euros) on the international capital market in 2022, WILO SE successfully completed the largest financing package in the company's history last year - also under the responsibility of Weyers. A "green" promissory note totalling 270 million euros was placed very successfully on the international capital market and a syndicated loan of 300 million euros was refinanced among the core banks. The promissory note includes an ESG component (Environmental, Social, Governance). In total, WILO SE was thus able to realise a loan volume of 570 million euros with terms of up to seven years, thereby securing liquidity beyond 2030.

Under the commercial leadership of Mathias Weyers, who held the position of CFO for eight of his 18 years at Wilo, numerous international M&A activities of the Group were also successfully completed. Weyer's work contributed to the expansion of Wilo's market presence in the North America region and in the Water Treatment sector, among other things.

The Wilo Group has found Mathias Weyers' successor in Dr Patrick Niehr, who has been a member of the Executive Board as Chief Change Officer since 2020. In this role, Niehr was responsible for various Group functions including Product Management, Marketing and Human Resources. "We are delighted to have found an experienced and competent new CFO in Dr Patrick Niehr, who lives Wilo's strategy and ambition”, continues Oliver Hermes. Lars Roßner adds: "We know him as a level-headed manager with assertiveness and foresight and are happy to have him as our new CFO."

The Wilo Group generated net sales of around EUR 2 billion and record operating earnings (EBITDA) of 217 million euros in the 2023 financial year. The Wilo Group's liquidity amounted to around EUR 700 million at the end of 2023. The current business development in 2024 is proceeding according to plan. "With this new role, I am assuming responsibility for the commercial area of an extremely successful Group. I am looking forward to the new task and would like to express my sincere thanks for the trust that is placed in me”, says Dr Patrick Niehr.